Rukawa reluctantly let himself be pushed inside.
Once he set foot inside, he received the biggest surprise of his life.
"SURPRISE!!!" Everyone yelled around him,
including the redhead beside him. Confetti fell from the ceiling while his ears
were still ringing. A huge cake was towed out and a banner saying "HAPPY
BIRTHDAY RUKAWA KAEDE!" was revealed hanging across the ceiling. Everyone was
shaking his hand and pounding on his back.
Finally regaining his composure, he glared at
Youhei who was the only one that had a chance of remembering when his birthday
was. Youhei and Sakuragi grinned unabashedly back at him. He couldn't hold the
glare for long considering they actually set up a birthday party for him.
Someone tapped a microphone and caught his attention.
"Hello everybody! Happy New Year and Happy
Birthday Rukawa!!!" Miyagi grinned at the answering whoops from the crowd. He
held up a hand and everyone quieted down. "Since it is Rukawa's birthday,
wouldn't it be fair that he gets the first dance of the year?" A loud 'yes'
filled the room and everyone turned towards Rukawa.
Only one word was on Rukawa's mind. 'Trapped…'
He quickly glanced in the direction of Youhei and Sakuragi and saw that they
both were grinning manically. It wasn't too hard to figure out that they
planned this part as well. 'Those two!' He thought almost angrily to
himself. His thoughts became contemplative. 'Hmm… Youhei doesn't know that I
can dance. Neither does Sakuragi. Maybe I can use it to my advantage.' He
suddenly noted that a large crowd of girls was creeping in his direction. He
backed away uneasily and looked around for a possible escape route. Youhei and
Sakuragi started to openly laugh at his predicament. 'Why those two… wait…
there's a good idea.' His mouth twitched upwards slightly making some of
the girls coming up to him faint and starry-eyed. He snorted in derision.
"Fine. I'll dance." His voice stopped everyone.
"But I get to pick my partner."
He slowly walked around the suddenly immobile
crowd of girls pretending to pick a dance partner while slowly moving closer
and closer to where Sakuragi and Youhei were standing. When he passed Miyagi,
he whispered something in the boy's ear and Miyagi grinned in response. Soon
enough, loud, fast, dance music filled the room. By this time, he was close
enough to reach Youhei and Sakuragi. He watched in the corner of his eye and
saw Youhei put down his glass of fruit punch. 'Here's my chance!' He
immediately grabbed Youhei pulling him out in the middle of the dance floor.
His body moved in time to the addicting beat, whirling Youhei around, making
the other boy dance with him. Youhei's eyes were wide with shock and disbelief.
He totally monopolized Youhei on the dance floor. He could feel the looks of
shock on everyone's face as he danced with the still somewhat immobile Youhei.
Finally deciding that Youhei had enough, considering that his best friend
looked like he was hyperventilating, he whirled the boy into Haruko's arms,
giving the girl an almost imperceptible wink. The girl laughed out loud and
immediately started to dance with Youhei who finally overcame his shock. He
looked around for his next target. A mop of red hair disappeared within the
crowd. 'Aha! Gotcha!' He glided quickly across the room and grabbed
Sakuragi's hand, dragging him onto the dance floor.
"Do-aho, dance with me." He whispered in
Sakuragi's ear, before whirling Sakuragi around in time to the music.
The redhead's face was as red as his hair, but
the boy complied.
'This will teach them never to put me on the
spot again.' He thought gleefully to himself. He watched the boy that
danced with him carefully. 'Hmm… Hanamichi isn't a bad dancer.' The
redhead matched his steps quite well, never faltering. He tried a few intricate
steps but Sakuragi kept up. 'Actually, make that he's a great dancer.'
He gave Sakuragi a tiny smile before losing
himself to the music. He hasn't danced like this in a long time. He was always
either practicing basketball or sleeping. He relaxed even further and his body
moved on its own accord, making up moves as he went along. After a few more
fast songs, the evitable slow song came on and Sakuragi made a move to leave
the dance floor. Rukawa, however, did not let him. Rukawa just wrapped his arms
around Sakuragi's neck and continued to sway to the music. Sakuragi's face
turned even redder than his hair.
"Kitsune, what the hell are you doing?" He
growled lowly.
"I don't wanna dance with anyone else." Rukawa
answered calmly.
"Oh." Sakuragi hesitantly rested his hands
lightly on Rukawa's waist.
Rukawa rested his head lightly against
Sakuragi's shoulder, not caring what other people thought of it. "This feels
nice." He said somewhat sleepily.
"Kaede. You must be tired. Let's go eat some
cake and then leave alright?"
Rukawa nodded and bit back a yawn. He let
Sakuragi lead him off the dance floor.
*****
Sakuragi glanced at Rukawa in surprise as they
walked together silently towards Rukawa's house. The surprising thing was that
Rukawa didn't fall asleep even though Sakuragi knew that the fox-eyed boy was
very tired. Rukawa just stared at his shoes with a sort of depressed look on
his face.
"I never really liked my birthday."
Sakuragi was thrown off-balanced. Rukawa was
just full of surprises tonight.
"Huh?"
"My parents got divorced when I was seven. That's
why I moved away from Kanagawa."
Sakuragi didn't know what to say. He knew that
Rukawa lived alone but he had never asked about Rukawa's family, not wanting to
intrude on the other boy's privacy.
"They were so consumed with fighting with each
other that they were always running off to different places trying to show the
other that they were much better off without the other."
"Who took care of you then?" Sakuragi asked
before he could stop himself.
"They left me with a nanny. Both of my parents
would send me cards and presents but they were never actually there for my
birthday. I didn't want any of the things that they sent me. I just wanted them
to spend some time with me on my birthday like they used to do." Rukawa's eyes
misted over slightly.
"I-I'm sorry, Kaede." Sakuragi couldn't think of
anything else to say.
They stopped in front of Rukawa's house.
Rukawa suddenly wrapped his arms around him and
gave him a tight hug. "Thank you for being here with me." Rukawa
whispered softly in his ear.
Sakuragi slowly brought his arms up and
encircled the raven-haired boy. He slowly brought them closer, reveling in the
feel of the warm body in his arms. He took the opportunity to smell the other
boy. Maple and something spicy tickled his nose. He really just wanted to hold
the kitsune-eyed boy like this forever and never let go. It just felt so right,
like the kitsune-eyed boy belonged in his arms. When they were dancing earlier,
Sakuragi had felt extremely excited and exhilarated. Rukawa was a really good
dancer and they matched each other perfectly on the dance floor. When the slow
song came on, his heart skipped a beat when Rukawa wrapped his arms around his
neck and said that he didn't want to dance with anyone else. He knew that there
was nothing special behind the statement but he couldn't help hoping that maybe
he did have a chance.
"Anytime." He said softly. He then reluctantly
pulled away from the embrace. The fox-eyed boy flashed him one of his rare tiny
half-smiles that always made him weak in the knees, before entering the house.
He stared at the house a moment longer before
walking towards his own house. 'I should tell him soon. Ayako is right. He
will not stay untaken forever.' He thought to himself, while planning on
how he should tell Rukawa.
*****
RING! RING!
Rukawa groaned and propped himself up on an
elbow to look at his alarm clock. '9:30.' He groaned again and flopped
back down on his bed, trying to will the incessant ringing away. It was a week
after his birthday and Rukawa was spending most of his time hibernating since
all the basketball courts outside was covered in snow. The ringing did not go
away and in his perspective, it seemed to only grow louder. He growled
ominously in his throat and then dragged himself out of bed. He grabbed the
phone and snarled, "What???"
"Oi, Kitsune, you still asleep? It's a beautiful
day outside and it shouldn't be wasted. It stopped snowing last night. Are you
busy today?" Sakuragi's cheerful voice came across the line.
"Yes."
"With what? You better not say sleeping. Youhei
is out on a date with Haruko and the Sakuragi Guntai went clubbing. So the only
one left is you. You have to do something with me. I'm bored outta my mind!"
"…"
"I know! We can watch a movie together! There's
a great action movie that just came out. I know you like action movies!"
Rukawa sighed and then said, "Fine."
"Great! I'll see you at the movie theater at 3
o'clock sharp. See you later! Bye!"
Rukawa slowly placed the phone back on the hook.
Sakuragi had always managed to get him to do whatever that the redhead wanted
him to do. It was utterly exasperating how his stubbornness and resistance
seemed to melt in the redhead's presence. He sighed and then decided that he
could get a few more hours of sleep before he had to go out to accompany Sakuragi
to the movies.
*****
The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.